Brigham Young University-Provo Top Questions

The most challenging aspect of attending BYU is the quality of the students—this is a competitive school. A person may have been the superstar, the smartest, or most talented in high school, but it is no longer the case once they get to BYU. Perspective students need to understand that they will be surrounded by the best. While it makes for wonderful student-to-student interactions and friendships, it also creates a rigorous academic standard. BYU is not the place for students who are looking for low-involvement classes or easily earned degrees. BYU stretches every student’s capabilities.

It is large, if you want to get lost in the crowd, you can.

Brigham Young offers many jobs for students to be employed by but has few scholarships awarded. I'm not saying this trying to sound lazy, but saying that in addition to my part-time job, more campus scholarships would be nice too.

It is cold in the winter so buckle up.

No caffeine on campus

My school is stingy with scholarships. Academic scholarships are hard to come by, but that is potentially for the better, since it fosters hard work from the students who attend. My personal dislike results because BYU does not give athletic scholarships where they are so often due. I have had many friends and family members who started on teams (including the football team) or were top-ranked in their groups, and did not recieve scholarships because the university was aware they could pay for school without a scholarship. If one works hard enough at a single thing they deserve reward.

As a student I have had an incredibly postive experience. BYU is an amazing school, however, it is dominately Latter-day Saint. Many people who are not Latter-day Saints may feel uncomfortable here at first simply because the culture is a little different. Our standards are high and, to many people, strange. For me, these standards and the Latter-day Saint culture here is not a drawback, but for some people, especially non Latter-day Saints, it could be a hinderance.

Most businesses close around 10:00 pm so there are not many options for things to do late at night if you are not creative.

The lack of diversity.

Perhaps the lack of diversity.

People are not very accepting of other people and cultures.

The school has certain religious classes that are required for graduation, such as courses on the Book of Mormon. If someone is not open to or interested in learning about other religions (or about the LDS religion in particular), these requirements might be a little off-putting.

It's really cold and really dry here but there isn't really anything wrong with the actually school. It has everything that you need and the professors are great and it's easy to find jobs if you need one.

Sometimes the whole religion stuff can get overwhelming when you're surrounded by it 24/7, including every class, even secular ones, which start with a prayer.

I love my school, but find it very frustrating and difficult to find a student job on campus. A lot of us students need to have a job to be able to pay for school, and the entire process is very hard and frustrating for me.

The general classes that are required for each student are very large which can make it difficult for the student-teacher relationship. There is also very little parking which can be frusterating if the students don't live very close to campus and have to drive to school.

It is sometimes difficult to get into certain degree programs (such as art programs) because it is so competetive.

Parking, because there is never enough of it on or off-campus

It's really cold in the winter-time

Congestion on the sidewalks between classes is the worst thing at BYU because it can be difficult to get across campus and is a little frustrating, but I can still make it to classes on time.

There is very little diversity- 99{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students are white, LDS Conservatives. Not that admissions are biased against others, but that most people who want to attend BYU are LDS, and most LDS people are white and conservative. But they are very accepting of diversity when they find it.

The wireless internet around the campus is a little slow. But that's it.

I would say the worst thing about BYU is that to keep a scholarship (academic) you have to basically have a 4.0. I worked my "tooshy" off in many of my classes only to pull B's and even C's. I did the very best I could but after one semester my scholarship was gone because I couldn't keep such a high GPA. Of course, there are students that do and can keep their GPA high enough to maintain their scholarship but I was unable to.

Too much governing on the student body and not enought freedom.

The tuition is cheap, but everything else is really expensive. The food they do serve isn't that healthy, it's like eating fast food every day. It is much cheaper to live off campus, but if you don't have a car, it is hard to get anywhere quickly because everything is spread out. Be careful about hte cannon center where a lot of people from Helaman Halls eat, they close a 6pm on Sundays and only open from 3pm-6pm on Fast Sundays. It also gets really cold here in Provo.

Close parking is sometimes hard to attain.

Some of the rules have created an oppurtunity for land lords to up the rent in off campus housing.

The large amount of applicants that make it more difficult to be accepted into the school.

If you do not have previous college experience, it will be hard for you to initially adjust.

I feel like the worse thing about my school is the lack of diversity and how it seems like the school lives in a bubble. It is almost as if my colllege is from a 1960s movie or somthing.

It is really hard not to get discouraged becuase everybody at the school is so smart, or at least it seems that everybody is so much smarter than you are! It is a constant battle to realize that there are students out there that are having a hard time just like you.

The worst thing is the class size in some of the classes I have to take for premed. My major classes are smaller but the premed sciences have over 200 students at times.

Probably the worst thing about this school is the lack of diversity. If you are white, mormon, and conservative you fit right in. If you are anything else it might be a little awkward. Everyone is really friendly however--you won't be ostracized for being different. If you aren't mormon it would be especially hard because almost all the social activities are through the church. There is no greek life or drinking allowed.

I don't like that they make you take two extra credits per semester if you have a university scholarship. I can understand that they want you to go the extra mile and graduate a little sooner, but for some that is really hard. Working and going to school becomes a little more difficult because you need that much more time to study, so sometimes the scholarship isn't worth it.

I don't think that I have any negative feelings towards my school, I love it here.

Brigham Young University is great place to study and to get the most for your money. However, sometimes classes, especially GE classes, can get very big. It is a large campus with many students and sometimes a student can feel more like a number than a person. Because there are so many students, it's difficult at times to find housing, on and off campus. Many off campus apartments are over priced with insufficient parking.

The worst thing about this school is that there are so many students on campus. There are over 30,000 students during the fall/winter semesters and it is impossible to find a place to study. The class sizes are also enormous.

It is VERY competitive and everyone has a talent, so you often feel insignificant. You do find people around you, though, that are on the same level as you with evetyhting, and it works out.

Brigham Young University tends to pride itself on weeding out students who "can't cut it" or aren't as talented as others. It can be frustrating to students who aren't in the top 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of classes, and they tend to be left behind.

The worst thing about my school is also one of the reasons many people want to attend. The honor code that one signs when applying can be irritating at times. The services on campus, including the food court, barbershops, testing center and bookstore will not provide service unless you are abiding by the honor code, that means no five o'clock shadow! Members of the opposite gender cannot go into dormitory rooms and there are curfews to make sure they are not in the same apartment late at night. These rules, though, are part of the reason people like BYU.

The worst thing about my school is there is not a lot of racial diversity. I enjoy meeting people of all different ethnicities and backgrounds, and there just isn't a lot of that here.

I am a pre-medical student which means that I am in large classes. It is very difficult to get to know all of my professors very well. Sometimes I wish that I could be in smaller courses so that I could get to know my professors better.

Probably the weather during the winter to be honest- I hate the cold and all the snow!

Coming from a warmer state, for me, the worst thing is the weather. There is a lot of ice and snow, and I have had to adjust to that.

Since the vast majority of the school is LDS there is a pervasive culture that can sometimes be irritating and constrictive. While most of the teachers are open and accepting, some students are rigidly set.

There are 30,000 students that go to Brigham Yound University making classes very large. I have been in many classes where more than 300 students attended the class in a lecture hall. Sometimes it can be hard to get individual attention from your professor in a class of that size unless you are consistently going to their office hours for one on one time.

The traffic office and parking police can be a real hassle to deal with at times. They are usually pretty good at reducing fine amounts if you contest the parking ticket but often times they make mistakes and won't take away the parking ticket. I would have to say that was the most frusterating thing for me this last semester. I guess if that's the only thing you need to worry about than life is wonderful.

There is a lack of diversity on campus - ethnically and politically. The people here all get along really well and all, but after growing up in a very diverse neighborhood, this campus seems a bit watered-down when it comes to different life views.

the random weather that occurs in oklahoma is the only thing i can think of that would make me not want to attend OU

The university police are a little ridiculous. Since there is basically no crime here, they go overboard with the little things; you can get a ticket if you ride your bike too fast on campus and you're fined $50 if you throw a snowball (although that's a law in Provo, not just on campus.. but still..). It's a source of amusement as long as it's not happening to you.